Divorce-battle tycoon who 'lost' £400m speaks out

The secretive tycoon at the centre of the country's most expensive - and most bitter - divorce case has broken his silence over the court battle in which his wife accuses him of hiding his £400 million fortune.

Until now Scot Young, 48, has refused to discuss the case in which he received a six-month suspended jail sentence for contempt of court after failing to provide details of his financial situation.

New squeeze: Scot Young's girlfriend Noelle Reno

But now the property mogul, who is dating model Noelle Reno, ex-fiancee of banking heir Matthew Mellon, tells me: 'It has been an absolute nightmare. My wife has been through nine lawyers, so that tells you something about what is going on here. It's a disaster.'

Young - who divided his married life between a £19 million antique-filled home in Surrey, a £30 million, 200-acre estate in Oxfordshire and a £3.5 million beachfront villa in Miami, each with their own staff, and who counted a Rolls-Royce Phantom and Ferrari amongst his fleet of cars - now claims he is unemployed and homeless.

'There is no money under the mattress! There is no money! But what can you do?' he says. 'I hope that this year it will all finally be sorted. But, as it is, I don't know how it can be resolved. I am totally in limbo.

'I am staying with friends - it's not a good situation.'

Young has agreed to pay six months' rent on a home in Regent's Park for his ex-wife and daughters, Scarlet, 17, and Sacha, 15, but is yet to resolve the matter of his daughters' £36,000 school fees, and has had to borrow £50,000 from multi-millionaire restaurateur Richard Caring, an old friend.

He explains: 'I don't want to sell my story, as I love my children dearly and I don't want them affected by all this. I am concentrating on the divorce.'

Ever since his multi-million-pound property business went belly-up, he has been involved in an acrimonious battle with his estranged wife Michelle, 46. He claims he lost his entire fortune on the doomed business venture, and says he still owes millions more to creditors.

Young was at the Help For Haiti party in Covent Garden. He adds: 'Something like this makes you realise there are people with problems so much worse than yours.'

Yemen ambassador is 'husband' of mistress

New daughter: British ambassador to Yemen Tim Torlot

Given the brazen manner in which Britain's representative to Yemen moved his pregnant mistress, Jennifer Steil, into his official residence after his wife of 23 years moved out, it is no surprise to find her adopting an impudent dash of diplomatic privilege.

For in announcing the birth of their lovechild, she describes ambassador Tim Torlot as her 'husband' - an intriguing notion considering His Excellency's wife, Bridie, is still waiting to finalise their divorce.

American-born Miss Steil, 41, a former associate editor at Playgirl magazine, and Torlot, 52, met in Yemen, where adultery is punishable with death by stoning, and she was soon sharing his bed.

Their child was born in November in London, and now the birth has been posted in a newsletter for alumni of Columbia University School of Journalism, where Miss Steil graduated in 1997.

She writes: 'Jennifer Steil '97 and her husband Tim are thrilled to announce the birth of our daughter, Theadora Celeste Steil Torlot. She was born in London on November 13. They'll be in London until mid to late January, when they hope to return to Yemen.'

A friend of Mrs Torlot tells me: 'It will be news to his wife, who is still waiting for the divorce to be effected in the courts. Adultery is one thing - bigamy is quite another.'

Eyebrows were raised when Mick Jagger's youngest daughter Georgia May was seen unwrapping a mystery Cellophane package - and then sniffing at the contents - during her 18th birthday celebrations recently.

But Georgia's mother Jerry Hall is adamant that nothing untoward was going on. 'I saw the pictures of my Georgia sniffing a substance and I can tell you she is innocent,' Texas-born Jerry tells me at the Costa Book Awards at Quaglino's. 'She's a straight A student. I totally trust her.' That's straight A, not class A, of course.

The X Factor's unlikeliest fan, China's outgoing UK ambassador, Fu Ying, bade a fond farewell to friends - including Hong Kong's last governor Lord (Chris) Patten, Lord (Geoffrey) Howe and former London mayor Ken Livingstone - at a party at the Mandarin Oriental.

But before flying home to take up a post as vice-president of foreign affairs, she reminisced about her British memories.

'Leaving the UK is bittersweet for me,' says the envoy. 'I've walked your bridges, driven your country lanes and next week I'll do my last shopping on Oxford Street and have my last run in your beautiful parks.

'I am leaving for Beijing a staunch X Factor and Arsenal FC fan, and I will miss both terribly.

'In fact, my Gunners scarf will be the first thing in my suitcase next week, and I'm hoping to bring the reality show, which represents the best of British personality, back with me to the Far East. You never know, it might be a success there.'

'Settle for Mr Second Best? I'd rather freeze my eggs!'

Empowered: Author Kathy Lette

Naughty novelist Kathy Lette cuts to the chase over American essayist Lori Gottlieb's claim that women over 30 should ditch the idea of finding Mr Right.

'This is reactionary claptrap,' says Kathy. 'Women shouldn't scrape the bottom of the biological barrel and end up with second best. Just freeze your eggs and wait until you meet a man you love.

'Perhaps it's time marriage went the way of other archaic traditions like human sacrifice - which also takes place on an altar - now that women are financially independent and can impregnate themselves. If vibrators could light the barbie and kill spiders in the bathtub, would we need men at all?'

Blimey. . . one wonders if such sentiments are shared by her husband, human-rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson.

Three months after being released from a Kenyan jail for shooting dead a black poacher on his 55,000-acre ranch, Old Etonian Tom Cholmondeley is writing down his experiences with a view to publishing a book. Cholmondeley, heir to his father Lord Delamere's estate in the Great Rift Valley, has been in Britain seeing his children by his estranged wife and visiting friends.

'I am encouraging Tom to write it all down,' says his agent Patrick Walsh. 'He spent three-and-a-half years in jail, so there is a basic human story. Plus, he was in a cell which previously held an ex-prime minister and famous novelist - all good material.'

PS

He is known for letting his taste for nightlife wreak havoc on his career - so no wonder drinkers at the Groucho Club, the louche Soho hangout, were surprised to see Radio 2's new breakfast DJ Chris Evans stroll in at 11pm on Tuesday with his stunning wife Natasha to start an evening with friends.

Evans took over Sir Terry Wogan's show, starting at 7am, just weeks ago, but has already been besieged by hundreds of complaints from listeners.

Perhaps he was there to gather material for the second volume of his autobiography, which he is putting the finishing touches to? Musing on his prose, Evans says: 'I love writing. I don't know why. I think it's what I'm best at.'